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Tonight I watched Sean "P. Diddy" Combs on Nightline. I was a big fan of his music in the 90's. It's always fun to see celebrities grow older and hear what they think about themselves and their place in the world. I was reading some tweets about him after the interview and came across words like rude, cheesy, self-important, no shame, and full-of-it. I can see how he comes across that way. The funny thing is that these opinions don't seem to bother him.

Even through all of that, I found 3 takeaways after listening to Martin Bashir's interview with him.

Your Spirit is different as you grow older.

Martin asked P. Diddy (paraphrasing), How do you enter your 40's as a hardcore gansta rapper?. He responded by saying that you don't do the same things because your Spirit is different. You can't do the same things when you are 40 that you did when you were 20. He gave an example from his music by saying that he now sings more about love. I agree with that with one caveat. It's not that you can't do the same things, it's just that sometimes it doesn't make sense to do the same things. You mature and your life changes, so you decide to let your Spirit drive you in a different way.

Even the most successful people feel like failures sometimes.

When asked about his 6 kids, P. Diddy admitted that he hasn't been the most successful at being a father. We often hold celebrities up to higher standards and expect them to be perfect at everything. They are obviously human too and run into some of the same challenges as non-celebrities. It was refreshing to hear that P. Diddy didn't think he was a perfect father. He has such a confident demeanor as an entrepreneur that it's easy to forget that he might have a vulnerable side when it comes to his personal life. I think we all have to be honest with ourselves and realistic about our ability to be a success in all areas of our lives.

Offer your brand to the world.

Martin Bashir closed the interview by saying that P. Diddy would now be going back to what he does best by offering his brand to the world. This isn't limited to celebrities. It's just that branding is more prominent when it comes to famous people and businesses. We all have a brand, a specific demeanor that is unique to us. Another name for it is our Personality. We shouldn't hide who we are to fit into someone else's mold. For example, P. Diddy doesn't worry about people thinking he's a megalomaniac. You don't have to go to that extreme, but just stay true to yourself.

After reading Rod Dreher's post, Ending the Too Big to Fail Threat, I was inspired to place nonprofit organizations under the same lens. One phrase in particular stood out to me. He wondered if banks and government "were [confusing] their own interests with the public's interest, and govern that way". After serving on nonprofit boards and interacting with my Web firm's nonprofit clients, I've started to wonder if nonprofits suffer from the same problem. I've seen a spectrum of ways to govern - some focused on the organization's interests and others focused on the people that make up the organization.

When it comes to nonprofits, many of us are under the impression that all of the work that they do is inherently "good". In an ideal world this would be true; however, there's one variable that we often forget about. Nonprofit organizations are made up of people with distinct missions, interests, and agendas. The core people that control nonprofits are the board and executive staff.

I've wondered for awhile if it's possible to separate your personal mission, interests, and agenda from that of the organization. It is an honor to be a part of a nonprofit whether you're on the board or part of the staff. Of course, you should only be involved if the work the organization is doing is congruent with your personal values. Unfortunately, there are ways that conflicts of interest can arise. I'm not talking about the blatant stories we hear about someone stealing money. I'm talking about the more subtle ones that fall in a gray area like showing favoritism in selecting vendors or letting personal prejudices dictate how to provide services.

It's hard to say that a person is "wrong" for doing these things. But it makes you wonder if they are letting their Personality or Spirit drive. Also, you have to consider whether they are looking at the larger picture - the Spirit of the organization. Instead they are letting their Personality take control. They are showing the childish, sometimes selfish side of themselves in order to accomplish a goal that is important to them. Had they let their Spirit drive, they would have opened up more possibilities for tapping into the Spirit of the organization.

Those that participate in the management of a nonprofit (either on the board or staff level) are doing so because they have a particular interest in helping the nonprofit organization accomplish important work. It doesn't hurt to get some personal satisfaction from the connection also. It's when that personal satisfaction becomes so strong that you are driving the organization to do something that might not be in its best interest.

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